If coffee roasted the traditional way is simply not good enough for you anymore, sit tight: a pair of entrepreneurs working under the name of Space Roasters aims to sell soon coffee made from beans roasted while traveling in space.
The idea is, in theory, simple and the pair already has the technology needed to carry it through patented. Anders Cavallini from Los Angeles and Hatem Alkhafaji from Dubai met while studying space science at the International Space University in France, and they came up with the idea of roasting coffee in zero-gravity, harnessing the heat generated from atmosphere re-entry to get the “perfect” roast.
Of course, as they explain in a recent interview with The National, having your coffee beans flown into space to be roasted and then recovered from wherever they land before they’re brewed into your favorite cup of coffee will make said cup a pretty expensive treat. Think of a price tag in the vicinity of $200, but the founders insist that there’s a market for it. Plus, they working on cutting down that price by a 4th, if possible.
To get this “perfect” roast, about 300kg of beans will be packed inside a Space Roasting Capsule, which will then be attached to a rocket. About 200km into space, the Capsule will detach and start to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. The heat generated from the descend will turn it into a heated oven, while zero gravity will ensure that all beans are roasted evenly.
The pair plans to sell this space-roasted coffee in a new establishment that will be set up in Dubai sometime next year, a blend of museum and coffee shop: the Space Station Cafe. They say they’re already in talks with several major space agencies and investors, to make their dream come true.
As for the price, Alkhafaji concedes it will be steep, but you’re not buying just any kind of coffee for this money.
“We know that’s super high for the average person, but there are a lot of people who would pay that much,” Alkhafaji says. “You’re paying for people to spend a lot of time to think about every little detail. [I]f you appreciate the complexity of it, the long process, the engineering points behind the whole thing, then really it’s very cheap… other retailers would definitely ask for much more than this.”
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News